I've Got This Friend
by jUsT-CAuSe-I-cAN
Summary: A hopefully cute one-shot about younger Jack and Sally, in which Jack is oblivious and Sally is trying not to be too obvious. Fluffiness galore.


**Made while listening to the song ****_I've Got This Friend _****by the band The Civil Wars. It's an awesome song, you should check it out if you can. Anyways, enjoy the story! :)**

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Halloween Town. The name basically says it all. Creatures straight out of nightmares stroll through the town each day, bustling about and going through their day, exactly as you or I would. In actuality, they really are just like you, or me, or just about anyone else you could meet. Despite what their appearances suggest, those in Halloween Town aren't mean or evil at all, despite a few bad apples here and there. But doesn't our society have those, too?

One large difference between the citizens of Halloween Town and those of our human society, however, is that throughout the year, monsters, ghouls, witches, and ghosts alike all prepare for what would be biggest, the most important, and really the only annual event they would hope have: Halloween. This holiday is the sole thing they exist for. It's the only thing they know, and most likely the only thing they ever will know. They live, breathe, eat, and sleep Halloween. Each of them, each one _lives _Halloween.

And honestly, everyone in the little town likes it that way. Everyone, that is, except the resident Pumpkin Prince, thirteen-year-old Jack Skellington. The young prince, much to his father's dismay, didn't take to Halloween as anyone would expect. Jack, even as a small child, never had much interest in scaring, or sneaking, or screaming, or anything the future Pumpkin King should be interested in. Instead, the little skeleton dreamed of different things and new discoveries, and wandered and explored the town in hopes of finding them.

Years later, Jack is, as he likes to think, officially a "teenager," and has almost given up the hope of ever finding anything new, exciting, or even remotely interesting. He had even gotten to the point of actually attempting to help the current Pumpkin King and Queen, a.k.a his parents, Elizabeth and Jonathan Skellington, with the plans for this Halloween. Unfortunately, the youth's efforts only managed to get him bored him to tears. Well, not really to tears seeing as skeletons can't cry, but you get the picture.

Now, after a quite while of leaning on the well in the center of the town square and listening to his parents talk back and forth about something to do with whether or not the vampires would do better in a group or split up, both his legs and what would be his "ears" are tired.

"Excuse me Mom, Dad?" Jack straightens and tries to get the king and queens' attention. "I'm going to go see if the, uh, the-the, um-uh... the witches! Yeah, if the witches need help with their, um, their potions- er- their potion brewing and stuff."

The older skeletons take brief glances at their son with a few, "Of course"'s, "Go ahead"'s, and "Have fun"'s. If they weren't so distracted at the moment, the two probably would've seen straight through Jack's poor lying skills. But fortunately for the prince, his parents are always so busy this close to Halloween that they never notice much.

Quickly walking away, though trying not to make how much he wanted to leave too painfully obvious, Jack scans his surroundings. The boy has been playing a sort of game with himself over the past few days, in which he tries to find as many bright colors as he can in the dull, muted tones of Halloween Town. So far, he picked out mostly oranges and reds, with some purples, blues, and greens here and there. These more vibrant colors, however, are used mostly as accents and the main colors are muted greys, browns, and blacks, and the few things fortunate enough to be a differently shade are always toned-down to the point of being almost indistinguishable.

_"How funny would it be if there were a pink building? Or if the well were pink?" _The young skeleton laughs quietly at the image he created, and hooks his skeletal thumbs into the pockets of his black slacks. His paced has slowed considerably from when he started walking earlier, and he is now strolling leisurely down the cobblestone path, allowing his mind to wander. After a while, Jack's thoughts somehow ventures from colors, to realizing where he has unconsciously been walking towards. _"Hey, wait a second. I'm heading to the graveyard. Well, I guess that gives me something to do. But it always gets boring going there alone, and I don't have anyone with me... Maybe I should turn around and go somewhere else, or find someone to hang out with. If I _can_ find anyone, that is." _Jack admits to himself.

He knows he doesn't really have many friends, but he also knows there's a good explanation as to why. Partially, the reason is because there aren't many kids his age, and partially the reason's because most of the ones who are would probably only want to talk about scaring and other Halloween-ish things. And why would the Skellington boy want to talk about the things he lied, albeit badly, to get away from?

Luckily enough for the youth, fate chooses this moment for him to run straight into the girl he considered his best friend, the rag-doll, Sally Finklestein. The unexpected impact knocks them both of balance, and Sally shrieks briefly before both the she and the skeleton stumble back and are sent to the ground. The moment Sally looks up to see Jack fallen down across from her, and the rag-doll's eyes widen and then squeeze shut. She takes a breath before immediately launching into a flurry of apologies.

"Oh my goodness, Jack! Are you okay? I'm so sorry! I should've watched where I was going, I didn't mean to knock you over! Really! Oh, I'm so clumsy! I'm so, so, so, _so_ sorr-"

"Sally!"

At the sound of Jack's voice, Sally's eyes fly open to see the skeleton sitting on his knees in front of her, looking her dead in the face with an adorably concerned expression. Now is one of the rare instances where Sally is actually glad to be a doll; The reason being that if the girl were to be alive and to have skin, there's not a doubt in her mind that her face wouldn't be completely scarlet.

"Calm down, okay? Everything's perfectly alright, you didn't mean to run into me. I know, really, I do." Jack tries to soothe his friend, before standing up and using his bony hands to dust off the front of his pants, then extending an arm to Sally. "Now, don't you think you need to get off the floor?"

The doll's eyes open wider still, looking as if they could pop out of their sockets, and she quickly turns her head away to stare at the stone walkway. Aside from her embarrassment, Sally still knows that Jack is right. She can't lay on the floor all day. The young girl forces herself to take the boy's hand, though taking special care not to meet his gaze.

The blue doll drops her friend's hand as soon as she is fully standing, and proceeds to try to occupy herself by running her fingers through her red yarn hair. They stand like that for a time, until the silence between them became too awkward to endure, and Sally eventually regains the ability to speak and and whispers a, "Thank you..."

Jack, who was previously keeping his gaze on a suddenly interesting tree, is surprised enough to hear Sally speak first and turns his skull towards the rag-doll, and is increasingly surprised to see her actually looking at him now. His Cheshire-cat grin spreads across his face, and he replies, "You're welcome. You know, it's actually nice that you would show up now. I was heading to the graveyard, but was about to change my mind because I thought it would be boring alone. Any chance you want to come along?"

"Oh," Sally looks bashfully down to her hands, and begins to run her thumb along the stitches on her forearm. "Well, I was actually just at the graveyard, Jack..."

"Oh," The skeleton boy's face falls. "That's okay. I could just go by mysel-"

"No!" The blue rag-doll forcefully interrupts the boy, and whips her head up to look at him. Noticing her tone of voice, she quickly averts her eyes and turns looks to the side, before continuing in her usual gentle tone, "I mean, no. I don't mind going with you, Jack. I was actually leaving because I was lonely, so I guess it's a good thing that you showed up as well..."

"Perfect!" The Pumpkin prince smiles widely again, and, much to Sally's abashment, takes her hand and beginning to lead her away. "There's so much we need to catch up on."

XXX-_Page Breaker-XXX_

"I'm just surprised Dr. Finklestein let you go out of the house." Jack says. He's sitting next to Sally on top of the hill in the graveyard, what he has deemed 'Spiral Hill' because of how it spirals in on itself at the edge. The two are facing towards the pumpkin patch, their backs to the graveyard, and are just talking about whatever comes to mind.

"Um, well, he didn't really..." Sally replies in a careful, almost reluctant tone, and hugs her knees to her chest. "I sort of had to sneak out..."

The skeleton next to her gives the girl a surprised look. "Really? Quiet, sweet, shy _you_ secretly left the house? I never would've guessed!"

"I had to! He wouldn't let me leave, and being stuck in that house all the time was horrible!" The rag-doll sounds defensive, and her eyes dart around in an ashamed way.

"Oh, no! Sorry, I didn't mean that in a bad way," The boy apologizes. "I'm just a little surprised. Honestly, though, it wasn't fair of him to keep you caged up like that. I guess I'm glad you left."

"Really?"

"Yes. And, otherwise I wouldn't be able to see you anymore! I mean, ever since he caught me sneaking into your house to see you a while back, he's been even more careful to keep people out. Apparently not to keep you in, though."

A small smile crosses Sally's face, and she giggles lightly, "At least he couldn't tell that it _was_ you. You would've been in so much trouble."

Jack grins widely and laughs along with the doll, "Well, even if he had caught me, it would've been worth it to see you."

The stitched-together girl instantly stops laughing, and gives the skeleton the same big-eyed look that she had earlier, when they ran into each other. The only difference in this stare is that, besides embarrassment, there's traces of shock and... And something else. Something that looked a lot like hope.

The emotions displayed in Sally's eyes are just as apparent in her voice as she says, "To... see me?"

"Yes," The boy, slightly uncomfortable under his friends gaze, gives and awkward laugh. "To see you. You are my best friend, after all."

The the rag-doll's eyes darken, and her shoulders slump as she drops her gaze back to her feet.

"Right." Her voice is flat, devoid of the emotions previously there.

"Sally?" The girl looks up at Jack through her eyelashes as he continues, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Jack." Sally says with a sigh. "Can we just sit for a little while, please? Without talking?"

Though caught off guard by his friends unexpected request, Jack nods. The pair do just as Sally asked, with Jack hoping that Sally doesn't find it as uncomfortable as he does and Sally never moving from her position. She stays curled up, arms wrapped around her legs and her chin on her knees. At some point, however, she closed her eyes. Jack noticed this around the fifth time he glanced up at her to wonder what she was thinking about. Now, the young skeleton has lost count of how many times he has looked at the blue doll, and is starting to wonder if she's asleep.

Right before he's about to ask, Sally answer the question for him, "Jack? Can I ask you something?"

"Anything." Jack chooses to answer instead of to sigh in relief.

"Okay," The doll takes a deep breath before going on, "I've got this friend," Jack opens his mouth to say something, but Sally anticipates it and stops him, "I don't think you know her. Anyways, she, um, she really likes this boy, but he only thinks of her as- well, she's sure he doesn't think of her the same way that she thinks of him. And she's a little shy," The girl decides this is too obvious, "I mean, afraid. She's afraid to ask him about it, because she thinks he'll say no, and she's just about ready to give up and just say it's not meant to be... She asked me for help, but I don't know what to tell her..."

"Are you sure I don't know her? This town's not very big..."

"Well, even if you do, I don't think I should tell you her name. She actually, um, asked me not to tell anyone about this. But I'm not good at giving relationship advice, and I trust you..." Sally replied, hoping that Jack wouldn't catch on.

"Sally, what makes you think I'm any better at it than you are?" The Pumpkin Prince laughs, thankfully remaining oblivious.

"Please, Jack?"

"Okay, okay- Hey, wait a second," Sally swears she could feel her heart stop. "If you aren't allowed to leave your house, then how do you know this girl?"

_"Snap out of it." _The girl tells herself, and does her best offended face, "Well, I know you don't I? Why wouldn't I know other people?"

"Alright, Sally calm down. It's just, you're shy and-" The skeleton stops saying whatever he was going to say when he saw the look his friend's giving him, and decides it best to drop the subject. "Never mind."

_"Oh thank goodness." _The doll relaxes some, glad that her acting skills were somewhat convincing. "Jack, even if you don't think you can, would you please try to help?"

"I'll try, I guess." Sally grins at him. "Okay, I think that, is your friend really likes this boy, she should just come out and tell him how she feels. She sounds like a nice girl, so chances are that if he's a decent boy he'll at least give her a chance. If he doesn't, then it's his loss, and I guess he just doesn't deserve her."

Jack finishes, and looks to the girl next to him, to see her giving him a sort of sad, but appreciative smile.

"What?" The skeleton asks, a little stupidly, earning him a airy giggle from his friend.

"Oh, nothing." The blue doll says, scooting a bit closer to the boy next to her and turning her head to the newly setting sun. Jack does the same, the orange of the sky reminding him of his game from before.

_"I think this is the brightest orange I've seen in Halloween town."_ Another thought pops into his mind and he looks over to the girl next to him. _"Sally's actually a pretty color of blue. I don't think anything else is as light of a blue as her. I don't even think that the sky's that blue. And the patches on her dress are so colorful, and her lips are such a nice__ shade of red..." _The boy suddenly snaps out of his trance, after realizing three things. First, he's thinking things about his best friend that he probably shouldn't be. Second, he's looking at her with a stupid, dreamy grin on his face. And third, she's looking back at back at him with an amused smile.

"Sorry." Jack quickly turns away to look at the orange sky, grateful that skeletons can't blush. Sally smiles laughs quietly and faces back towards the sunset as well. After a long silence, one much more comfortable than the last two, the sun was almost completely gone, and the rag-doll felt the need to say something else.

"Jack, remember how you said you weren't very good at giving relationship advice?"

"Mm-hmm..."

"Well, you are."

The young skeleton looks at the girl, amused. "Really?"

"Yes. What you said, it was really good advice. It was really sweet, Jack." Sally looks up at her slightly-taller friend, her expression serious and round eyes showing nothing but the truth.

"Well," Jack beams down at her. "I hope your friend thinks so too."

Sally laughs her bell-like laugh and leans her head on Jack's shoulder, watching the sun sink lower into the sky.

"I hope so, too, Jack."

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**Fluffiness galore. I don't know what to say about this besides that it took too long, and that I was half asleep towards the end of this. Point out my numerous grammar mistakes if you want.  
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**First time writing extra-cutesy stuff like this, please no flames, yadda yadda yadda.  
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**Now, I need to sleep.**


End file.
